MADEIRA, Ohio — One of two men charged with murdering the owner of a Madeira convenience store owner in 2021 has pleaded guilty to the charges he faced.
According to the US Attorney's Office for the Southern District of Ohio, 32-year-old Willie James Attaway admitted to murdering 68-year-old Roop Gupta inside his store on Kenwood Road on Feb. 9, 2021.
Attaway also admitted to attempting or committing four other armed robberies between February 8 and 9 in 2021, including a Shell station in Deerfield Township, a Shell station on Dixie Highway in Hamilton, a Sunoco station in Blue Ash and a Marathon station in Lebanon.
According to prosecutors Attaway and a second person charged in the case, 37-year-old Lamond Johnson, walked into Madeira Beverage and confronted Gupta, who was working behind the counter at the time. Prosecutors said Attaway pointed a gun at Gupta and, after a struggle, shot him once in the abdomen.
Gupta was taken to the University of Cincinnati Medical Center, but he died from his injury.
Prosecutors have recommended Attaway serve a sentence of up to 45 years in prison.
“Today's guilty plea is a step in the right direction, and it will hopefully provide some small amount of closure for Mr. Gupta's family,” said John Nokes, acting special agent in charge for ATF’s Columbus Field Division. “Mr. Gupta's life ended tragically at the hands of the defendant. That heinous act altered the course of many lives, and it robbed Mr. Gupta, his family, and our community of future opportunities that so many of us take for granted.”
Investigators said later that same evening, after Gupta was fatally shot, Johnson and Attaway went to a Sunoco in Blue Ash and robbed the clerk inside at gunpoint. Attaway then went to a Marathon in Lebanon and demanded money at gunpoint from the clerk; in that case, the clerk reached under the counter and pretended he had a firearm, which caused Attaway to run away, police said.
According to then-Hamilton County Prosecutor Joe Deters, Johnson evaded identification and capture for nearly a month after Gupta's murder. On March 7, 2021, agents from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms attempted to stop Johnson’s car. He fled and intentionally struck an ATF vehicle with an agent inside, according to Deters; reports that day indicate he also pointed a gun at the agent.
That gun ultimately linked him to the Madeira shooting, Deters said at the time. Analysts confirmed it had been used in the attack on Gupta.
Johnson still faces 14 charges in connection with the robberies and the homicide — murder and aggravated murder the most serious among them. If convicted, he could be sentenced to life in prison.
Gupta's death was mourned by many in the Madeira community; Following his murder, the community raised over $25,000 through a GoFundMe to help support Gupta's family.
The night of his murder wasn't the first time the convenience store owner had been shot either. Gupta had been attacked inside Madeira Beverage once before in 2012, when an armed robber shot him multiple times in the stomach and ran from the scene.
Madeira community members rallied for him then too, holding fundraisers to cover his hospital expenses.
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